October 1998

My previous trip to an Uwajimaya was in Seattle last year. I thought that store was big, but this one is huge! The live fish tank is like an aquarium -- see grouper, red snapper, rock cod and geoduck up close! I was impressed with the selection -- they stocked over ten varieties of yokan (sweet bean jelly) and a whole aisle of sembei and arare (rice crackers). The bakery section was selling kasutera (castella cake) from Nagasaki! The beer and wine section (grocery stores in America can sell liquor) had hard-to-find Yebisu and many kinds of sake, a refreshing change from Canada, where (except for Alberta) government agencies determine which brands of beer and wine are sold (sometimes not the best ones).

In addition to the food, there is an in-store Bushi Soba restaurant, a well-stocked gift shop, and a branch of Kinokuniya Bookstores with fiction and reference books, stationery and all the latest magazines, J-pop CDs and videos from Japan. I picked up a copy of The Empty Hand: A Karate Wordbook by Rui Umezawa. It is part karate coaching session, part kanji lesson -- you will learn something even if you are not interested in karate. I highly recommend this book (and not just because the author is my friend!).

Uwajimaya Plaza, 10500 SW Beaverton-Hillside Highway, Beaverton OR
(25 October 98)

• Portland Taiko: "Making Waves" *****
  This show at Portland State University's Lincoln Theatre started off in very un-Japanese fashion, almost half an hour late, however once they got under way, this young, exuberant multicultural drumming group of mostly women proceeded to win over the near-sellout audience with a varied program that included traditional songs and original compositions. They did a great arrangement of a piece I learned in my 1997 taiko course with Toronto's Yakudo group, "Isami Goma": drummers in a V-formation played successively louder rounds that effectively evoked waves of charging horsemen. "Questions of Allegiance" explored the emotions of the WWII Internment and the American allegiance questionnaire, with a multimedia approach that included projected archival slides and taped quotes from internees. The second half of the show featured a couple of collaborative pieces with BODYVOX, a modern dance company, including "Ring of Steel", a hilarious spoof of martial arts movies that resembled a "Spy vs. Spy" comic. The drummers showed their versatility with "Bear Face", a masterful enactment of the Chinese fable of a junior thunder god (bachi as ohashi and white foam afro-wigged "clouds" are memorable images). This humorous piece is likely very popular at the children's shows they do. In "Tatsumaki (Whirlwind)" they pirouetted with precision around the drums without missing a beat. While it wasn't quite the display of sheer power and athleticism that is a Kodo or Ondekoza show, this was a very tight and professional performance of a different kind, and everyone looked to be having fun on stage. Well deserving of the standing ovation at the end!

• Virginia Cafe 725 SW Park Avenue, Portland OR
  A cosy bar with diverse clientele.

• South Park Blocks
  Walk along an oasis of treed shelter that stretches for several city blocks north of Portland State University.

• Tom McCall Waterfront Park
  A strip of green alongside the Willamette River. The walkway is popular with joggers and rollerbladers.

• Japanese American Historical Plaza
  A simple commemorative monument to the 1988 Redress Settlement along the Waterfront Park near Burnside Street, just blocks from where the prewar Nihonmachi (Japantown) used to be. The names of the interment camps to which Portland area Japanese Americans were sent are listed on the flat face of an upright stone tablet. On its right side, a series of smaller rocks are inscribed with poetic expressions of the immigrant and internment experiences. On the left side, a similar group of rocks captures the postwar feelings of bitterness, loss and hope for the future. The text of the Bill of Rights and the Redress Agreement are the bookends.

• Weekend Market Ankeny Square, Old Town, Portland OR
  Crafts and clothing of the type one ordinarily sees at this kind of market are sold out of about 50 booths. One artisan was selling unusual jewelery, eyeglasses and mobiles made out of cutlery and kitchen utensils. The biggest reason to go here is the food plaza -- not for the usual hot dogs and burgers, but the inexpensive dishes of African, Croatian, Tibetan and other international cuisines.

  

• Finnegan's Toys and Gifts 922 SW Yamhill, Portland OR (503) 221-0306
  A good place to look if you need to buy a gift for a little person. We went there to use their Puri-kura machine!

• Portland Art Museum: Monet Exhibit
  Monet spent his final years painting in his vast garden, producing works like the famous "Water Lillies" series. Perhaps as a function of his worsening eyesight, his art evolved from impressionist to abstract. The exhibit includes some Japanese woodblock prints as a tie-in to the garden's Japanese-style bridge, which figures so prominently in many of the works. A very informative narrated tour on tape is included with the price of admission.

1. US Customs
   I'm not planning to sell my car anytime soon, but I was required to go out to the airport, where a US customs officer issued me an import certificate. "First you have to let me take it for a spin," he deadpanned. Just kidding!
2. Department of Environmental Quality
   When Oregonians say they have to go the "Dee-kew", it doesn't mean they have a craving for a Peanut Buster Parfait at Dairy Queen! The drive-through DEQ testing centers are big buildings out in the suburbs that resemble aircraft hangars. The vehicle is positioned over a roller in one of the testing bays, then is driven on a standard simulated trip, determined by the resistance of the roller and displayed on the monitor. All the while the cleanliness of the car's exhaust is measured, and if the car passes you receive a certificate. If not, you must get the car serviced so that it will pass the test.
3. Licence Plates
   The Department of Motor Vehicles is known by all Oregonians as the "DMV". At first I thought they were saying "DMZ (De-militarized Zone)"! Among their many functions is the issuing of licence plates.
4. Driver's Licence
   Take a computerized touch-screen test based on video clips of traffic scenarios. If you pass that, take the vision test and road sign recognition quiz. All right? Passed the behind-the-wheel examination (waived in my case)? Then say "Cheese" for your new driver's licence mug shot.

Actual quotes from the Oregon Driver Manual:
"Never shoot a gun on or across a highway."
"Your driving privileges may be suspended if you are at least 15 years of age and are expelled from school for bringing a weapon to school."
"Hats and sunglasses are not allowed [for your photograph]." (Then a fake moustache is right out, I suppose?)

Overheard at the DMV:
"Now, turn on your left turn signal ... not the windshield wipers ... not the hazard lights ... the turn signal ... the *left* turn signal ..."
"Hmm, you did better on the test yesterday."
"If only I had known what the solid double yellow center line means!"
(20 October 98)

For those of you who own microscopes and are tired of looking at the same "leaf", "cork" and "squashed mosquito" slides again and again, here is an idea for an inexpensive, functional microtome so you can cut your own histology slides at home.
(17 October 98)